Rebellion
The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution
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Narrated by:
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Clive Chafer
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By:
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Peter Ackroyd
About this listen
Peter Ackroyd has been praised as one of the greatest living chroniclers of Britain and its people. In Rebellion, he continues his dazzling account of the history of England, beginning the progress south of the Scottish king James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ending with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson James II.
The Stuart monarchy brought together the two nations of England and Scotland into one realm, albeit a realm still marked by political divisions that echo to this day. More importantly perhaps, the Stuart era was marked by the cruel depredations of civil war and the killing of a king. Shrewd and opinionated, James I was eloquent on matters as diverse as theology, witchcraft, and the abuses of tobacco, but his attitude to the English parliament sowed the seeds of the division that would split the country during the reign of his hapless heir, Charles I. Ackroyd offers a brilliant, warts-and-all portrayal of Charles's nemesis, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament's great military leader and England's only dictator, who began his career as apolitical liberator but ended it as much of a despot as "that man of blood," the king he executed.
England's turbulent seventeenth century is vividly laid out before us, but so too is the cultural and social life of the period, notable for its extraordinarily rich literature, including Shakespeare's late masterpieces, Jacobean tragedy, the poetry of John Donne and Milton, and Thomas Hobbes's great philosophical treatise, Leviathan. Rebellion also gives us a very real sense of the lives of ordinary English men and women, lived out against a backdrop of constant disruption and uncertainty.
©2014 Peter Ackroyd (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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From acclaimed historian Chris Skidmore comes the authoritative biography of Richard III, England's most controversial king, a man alternately praised as a saint and cursed as a villain.
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Glad I read it now that it is over
- By Missee on 08-08-19
By: Chris Skidmore
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Henry V
- The Warrior King of 1415
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 25 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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This insightful look at the life of Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt casts new light on a period in history often held up as legend. A great English hero, Henry V was lionized by Shakespeare and revered by his countrymen for his religious commitment, his sense of justice, and his military victories. Here, noted historian and biographer Ian Mortimer takes a look at the man behind the legend and offers a clear, historically accurate, and realistic representation of a ruler who was all too human.
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Accessible, grounded, enjoyable
- By Justa Guy on 04-10-18
By: Ian Mortimer
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Henry IV
- The Righteous King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The talented, confident, and intelligent son of John of Gaunt, Henry IV started his reign as a popular and charismatic king after he dethroned the tyrannical and wildly unpopular Richard II. But six years into his reign, Henry had survived eight assassination and overthrow attempts. Having broken God's law of primogeniture by overthrowing the man many people saw as the chosen king, Henry IV left himself vulnerable to challenges from powerful enemies about the validity of his reign. Even so, Henry managed to establish the new Lancastrian dynasty and a new rule of law.
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Detailed and compelling
- By kayakman on 12-15-17
By: Ian Mortimer
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Bloody Mary
- By: Carolly Erickson
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 23 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the tragic, stormy life of Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. Her story is a chronicle of courage and faith, betrayal and treachery - set amidst the splendor, pageantry, squalor, and intrigue of 16th-century Europe. The history of Mary Tudor is an improbable blend of triumph, humiliation, heartbreak, and devotion - and Ms. Erickson recounts it all against the turbulent background of European politics, war, and religious strife of the mid-1500s.
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A good history
- By A. Barrios on 05-21-15
By: Carolly Erickson
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Mary Queen of Scots
- The True Life of Mary Stuart
- By: John Guy
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 25 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first full-scale biography of Mary Stuart in more than 30 years, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history's most famous women, depicting her world and her place in the sweep of history with stunning immediacy. Bringing together all surviving documents and uncovering a trove of new sources for the first time, Guy dispels the popular image of Mary Queen of Scots as a romantic leading lady - achieving her ends through feminine wiles - and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I.
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Horrible narration - don’t purchase
- By ballymerrigan on 12-27-18
By: John Guy
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Thomas Cromwell
- The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant
- By: Tracy Borman
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Cromwell has long been reviled as a Machiavellian schemer who stopped at nothing in his quest for power. As Henry VIII's right-hand man, Cromwell was the architect of the English Reformation, secured Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and plotted the downfall of Anne Boleyn, and upon his arrest, was accused of trying to usurp the King himself. But here Tracy Borman reveals a different side of one of the most notorious figures in history.
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narration is very well done & book is quite good
- By horoscopy on 02-18-15
By: Tracy Borman
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A Distant Mirror
- The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 28 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The 14th century reflects two contradictory images: on the one hand, a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and the exquisitely decorated Books of Hours; and on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world of chaos and the plague.
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And you thought the twentieth century was rough...
- By Rob on 03-23-06
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Defenders of the Faith
- Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536
- By: James Reston Jr.
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In the best-selling Warriors of God and Dogs of God, James Reston Jr. limned two epochal conflicts between Islam and Christendom. Here he examines the ultimate battle in that centuries-long war, which found Europe at its most vulnerable and Islam on the attack. This drama was propelled by two astonishing young sovereigns: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Turkish sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Though they represented two colliding worlds, they were remarkably similar.
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Good account of interesting period of history
- By ItalCali on 03-11-22
By: James Reston Jr.
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Imprudent King
- A New Life of Philip II
- By: Geoffrey Parker
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Philip II is not only the most famous king in Spanish history, but one of the most famous monarchs in English history: the man who married Mary Tudor and later launched the Spanish Armada against her sister Elizabeth I. This compelling biography of the most powerful European monarch of his day begins with his conception (1526) and ends with his ascent to Paradise (1603), two occurrences surprisingly well documented by contemporaries. Eminent historian Geoffrey Parker draws on four decades of research on Philip as well as a recent, extraordinary archival discovery - a trove of 3,000 documents in vaults in New York City....
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Great, but I jumbled
- By Missee on 03-18-19
By: Geoffrey Parker
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The Conquering Family
- By: Thomas B. Costain
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas B. Costain's four-volume history of the Plantagenets begins with The Conquering Family and the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, closing with the reign of John in 1216. The troubled period after the Norman Conquest, when the foundations of government were hammered out between monarch and people, comes to life through Costain's storytelling skill and historical imagination.
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An Entrancing History of the Early Plantegenets
- By Peter on 01-20-09
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Our First Revolution
- The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers (Unabr.)
- By: Michael Barone
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The ideals of freedom and individual rights that inspired America's Founding Fathers did not spring from a vacuum. Along with many other defining principles of our national character, they can be traced directly back to one of the most pivotal events in British history: the late-17th-century uprising known as the Glorious Revolution.
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Excellent Recap of a Forgotten Event
- By rollcall40 on 01-02-08
By: Michael Barone
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Catherine de Medici
- Renaissance Queen of France
- By: Leonie Frieda
- Narrated by: Sarah Le Fevre
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Poisoner, despot, necromancer - the dark legend of Catherine de Medici is centuries old. In this critically hailed biography, Leonie Frieda reclaims the story of this unjustly maligned queen to reveal a skilled ruler battling extraordinary political and personal odds - from a troubled childhood in Florence to her marriage to Henry, son of King Francis I of France; from her transformation of French culture to her fight to protect her throne and her sons' birthright. Based on thousands of private letters, it is a remarkable account of one of the most influential women to wear a crown.
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Narrator didn't get one name right
- By Georgina García- Menocal on 09-15-19
By: Leonie Frieda
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England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart King Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World.
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Dry and missing background
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The Exciting Made “Meh”
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Superb narrator and fascintating history
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The Habsburgs
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An Excellent and Interesting History
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What listeners say about Rebellion
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-28-22
Soporific reader
This is a readily accessible account of a complicated historical period in England, covering roughly the entire 1600s.
Unfortunately, the reader made it hard to keep paying attention. He read as though he were reading the news, with every sentence sounding the same. Good Scottish accent for King James, though.
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- Edward Bohnert
- 12-16-19
An excellent book
This book on English History my Peter Ackroyd is excellent. I am currently trying to read through most of his volumes on English History. It is a favorite topic of mine. I highly recommend it to others.
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1 person found this helpful
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- lola work
- 02-08-15
An exciting and revealing book
An exciting story that reveals the birth pangs of the rights of the people of England, and by extension, of the United States
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Overall
- David Molinero
- 01-28-20
I love history as it sheds light on the future.
From "Good King James" (Who wasn't as good as he's remembered) to the removal of James II in the same Glorious Revolution (aka Bloodless Revolution) this is a worthwhile book.
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-11-20
English Rebellion
Peter Ackroyd superbly documents this agonizing transition to a modern monarchy. James I was determined to reinstate the authority of his monarchy along with establishing state Catholic faith. England was facing a civil war at a time of growing international tensions. The Glorious Revolution was the most effect means of preserving state sponsored Protestant religion and build alliances with other countries. This allowed English Parliment to come with the Dutch Monarchy and support the overthrow of James I.
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- reggrant
- 05-17-19
Good History. So-So Reading.
The history recounted here is typically Ackroyd: thorough, meticulous, engaging. This edition suffers from a rather flat reading. There is little variation in tone, pace, or emphasis throughout the entire book. One senses that the reader was not that personally engaged in the content, and was simply earning his keep,
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- Ryan
- 01-21-15
Good but not great
The period covered in this book is a very interesting one, but unfortunately the content is let down a bit by both the author and the narrator, especially the latter. Clive Chafer reads like he is doing the graveyard shift news update at a local college news station. There is no emotion, and his monotone delivery can be very trying.
That being said, I stuck with the book, and am glad I did. As always with Ackroyd, however, his anecdotes are very scattershot, and he leaves vast gaps in the narrative that better historians like Alison Weir would never leave empty.
For example, when discussing the reign of James I, he offhandedly mentions that James was angry when he discovered that his principal secretary, Robert Cecil, had been in the employ of Spain. Robert Cecil was a truly huge figure in both Elizabethan and early Jacobean England, and this comment was begging for further elaboration. Alas, he simply skips past it.
This happens all too often in the book, and the habit will be well-recognized by those who have read his other works. In the end, Rebellion strikes one as more of a primer on the period than a truly in-depth and insightful study. I don't know why, but this seems to be the case with all his books.
I'd still recommend it, but don't expect to be blown away.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Matt
- 10-16-15
Interesting and saucy
What made the experience of listening to Rebellion the most enjoyable?
The author focused on the theme, rebellion, and as a result included plenty of saucy details in an age of wit and irreverence. The narrator was great.
Who was your favorite character and why?
PEPYS.
Which character – as performed by Clive Chafer – was your favorite?
Pepys. A million times Pepys.
Any additional comments?
The author glossed over the true significance of the era. The Civil War was the penultimate event of the liberal western tradition that started with the ancient Greeks. The American and French revolutions, and thus the modern western tradition, wouldn't be possible without the rebellions against the Stuarts. None of this is touched upon, and it doesn't make use of any authoritative sources; it's merely a good collection of biographies and events.
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- Patrick
- 01-15-23
Excellent, accessible history
A great history of 17th century England. Lots of details, but written for the layman and very accessible. I’m not crazy about the reader, but you certainly get used to him.
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- Cory
- 01-27-16
A good book
This book is easy to follow although it describes a somewhat confusing era. I would have liked an epilogue discussing how these events changed history on a global scale at the time, and further exploration of how the commercial gains of the colonies led to England's ultimate stability.
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